If you’re cooking up a frenzy in the kitchen this Christmas, Wiltshire-based catering company Top Hat have provided some handy pointers

1. Lay the table the night before, one less thing to do on the day and people love to feel expected – if the food is running half an hour late it won’t matter.

2. Starters can sometimes take appetite away from the main event. Instead have a few small canapés like smoked salmon on mini dill blinis or bite size Yorkshire puddings with a little dollop of horseradish sauce and a sliver of beef.

3. Prepare, prepare, prepare – so much can be done in advance and again it will give you more time on Christmas Day to enjoy being with family and friends.

a. I peel my potatoes, carrots and parsnips and then pop them into a bowl of cold water the night before. They are then ready to be cooked the next day.

b. Again, on Christmas Eve make your stuffing and then prepare and stuff the turkey, cover with tin foil and just keep refrigerated.

c. Gravy, cranberry sauce and bread sauce can also be made on the day and I find they often taste better as the flavours have had time to develop.

d. By getting ahead this should leave you with plenty of time to chat with your family and enjoy present opening!

4. If you are just a few on Christmas Day, why not ask your butcher to bone a turkey leg, stuff it and wrap it in bacon ready to roast. It carves beautifully and cooks evenly.

5. Better to have too much than too little and in my family, leftovers are always popular.

Recorded in the Domesday Book, Bicester has a rich past relating to sheep, horses, leather working, lace making and military. It’s a treat to visit somewhere new, and so it is with a first-time visitor’s perspective this postcard by Tracy Spiers is written...

Swan Lake. We know the music, we know the iconic imagery of the beautiful ballerina dressed as a swan, but I’m guessing that without reading the libretto in the program, most people don’t know the story. Which is why the audience relies on the dancers to tell us.

Tom and Louise are being joined by other new academic appointments that have been made as part of the RAU’s £2.5 million initiative to help meet the future needs of the land management and agri-food sectors

“To win this prestigious award is a real compliment to the wider team in Renishaw’s manufacturing services operation, particularly when we consider the achievements of the other excellent shortlisted companies.”

Stepping up to receive the world’s first MBA Leading Business degrees at the ceremony were Sarah Bryars, Chief Executive of Target; Luke Freeman, Joint Chief Executive of MF Freeman; and Linsey Temple, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Engineering Training